Devices may communicate with one another utilizing various protocols. In an example, a storage controller may communicate with a storage device using a SAS protocol (e.g., the storage controller may utilize a standardized SAS 2.0 protocol over a cooper cable). In another example, a storage switch may communicate with a storage device using a modified version of the SAS protocol (e.g., the storage switch may utilize a vendor specific non-standardized link initialization protocol over an optical cable because the standard SAS 2.0 protocol does not natively support optical cables). In another example, a first device (e.g., a USB storage device, a mobile phone, a peripheral, and/or other devices) may connect to a second device utilizing other types of protocols, such as a USB protocol, a wire protocol, or a wireless protocol. Some protocols may be compatible with other protocols (e.g., a standardized SAS 3.0 protocol may be compatible with the standardized SAS 2.0 protocol), while other protocols may not be compatible (e.g., the standardized SAS 3.0 protocol may not be compatible with the vendor specific non-standardized link initialization protocol).